Toby Harnden

Toby Harnden is a British-American journalist, author, and former war correspondent who served as Washington bureau chief for the Sunday Times and has reported from conflict zones around the world. His book First Casualty tells the gripping true story of the first American killed in combat in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, a CIA officer named Johnny Michael Spann who died during a prison uprising at Qala-i-Jangi fortress near Mazar-i-Sharif. Harnden's account, based on years of research including interviews with CIA officers, Special Forces soldiers, and Afghan witnesses, provides the definitive account of this pivotal early chapter of the War on Terror. His writing is characterised by meticulous research, vivid narrative reconstruction, and the moral seriousness needed to do justice to events of such gravity. Harnden places Spann's death within the broader context of the early Afghan campaign, exploring the decisions, intelligence failures, and acts of extraordinary courage that defined the first weeks of the longest war in American history. First Casualty is available as an audiobook, offering listeners a powerful, deeply researched account of sacrifice and courage at the dawn of the post-9/11 era.